Karzai Denounces US Airstrike That Killed Civilians

US confirms that women and children died in attack that targeted
a Taliban leader.

Kabul, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai today denounced an airstrike by
U.S.-led forces that his office said killed at least 70 civilians.

Civilian deaths and injuries are an extremely sensitive subject in Afghanistan,
where the government has repeatedly pleaded with Western troops to exercise
greater care to avoid hurting and killing noncombatants. Karzai broke down in
tears during one such appeal.

Afghans still generally support the presence of foreign troops who are fighting
Taliban insurgents, but accidental civilian deaths inflame public fury against
the Western coalition and the Karzai government.

The American military initially put the number of dead in a remote part of
Herat province, on Afghanistan's western border, at 30, describing all of those
killed as Taliban militants. Today, U.S. spokesmen said five of the dead were
believed to have been women or children, and that allegations of a much higher
and predominantly civilian death toll would be investigated.

Accounts of the fighting in the Shindand district provided by Afghan authorities,
human rights groups and the U.S. military have varied widely, and the remoteness
of the area made it difficult to determine exactly what happened.

The U.S. military said it staged an airstrike early Friday in the area, targeting
a senior Taliban commander, and that all of those killed were thought to be
Taliban fighters.

But Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said aerial bombardment, which it described
as occurring later in the day, killed 76 civilians, including scores of women
and children. An Afghan human rights group today put the total number of dead
at 78, after initially compiling a tally of 88.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said the Taliban commander targeted in the raid,
Mullah Siddiq, was among those killed in the airstrike.

Local authorities reported that angry villagers threw stones at Afghan soldiers
who arrived to distribute aid including food and clothing, and that soldiers
eventually fired into the air to disperse the protesters. There were conflicting
reports as to whether anyone was hurt in the altercation.

The United Nations envoy in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, called for the varying accounts
of the incident to be investigated "thoroughly and quickly."

--------

Special correspondent Faiez reported from Kabul and staff writer King
from Dubai.